The Top DSM Community on the Web

For 1990-1999 Mitsubishi Eclipse, Eagle Talon, Plymouth Laser, and Galant VR-4 Owners. Log in to remove most ads.

Please Support STM Tuned
Please Support Fuel Injector Clinic

Clutch pedal falls to the floor!

This site may earn a commission from merchant
affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

njdaewoo

10+ Year Contributor
167
1
Oct 19, 2009
Piscataway, New_Jersey
Hello all,
To most people having the issue of the clutch pedal falling to the floor the solution is probably replacing your master cylinder. I recently had a problem with this same issue. I read the forums and searched but I could not find a real solution to my problem. I bleed the clutch system over and over again. Nothing, and I mean nothing really fixed the problem. Doing these repetitious repairs only seemed to help for a little while but the problem was still there! So I finally stood back and evaluated the situation that was at hand. Hmph, if I press my clutch in slowly, the pedal falls to the floor. If I press the pedal really fast it seems to work sometimes but not 100%. Okay, 1+1=2, no matter how you try to solve it 2 is the sum! So if the symptoms show signs having air inside, but you know for a fact that you had your wife, daughter, sons and even the dog step on that clutch pedal while you had that wrench down below cracking open the slave cylinder over and over again. The problem you are having cant be what you are doing to try to remove the air out of the system! Now :aha: the light bulb should go on in your head and say wait a minute. When I press the pedal down and the fluid in this small hydraulic system does not go where it needs to :ohdamn: it must be the master cylinder loosing pressure!
Most people when purchasing a new master cylinder (or rebuilt unit) either just install it or they bench bleed the unit.. There is a 50% chance when everything is installed the unit will not work right. You may have the same issue as before and that causes you to start buying stainless lines and extension rods on the slave cylinder :nono:. Our problem is the Master Cylinder and the failure of the master holding pressure when the clutch pedal is applied which has to do with the inner workings of the unit itself. Whenever you replace the master cylinder never press the adjustable rod all the way into the unit. Some units have a rough internal bore that's not honed smooth as deep as it should be. When ever you press the rod assembly completely into the bore on some of these units you will hit the rough area sooner which is why you have that 50% ratio of getting the job done right on the first attempt. Those "stops" on the clutch pedal brackets controls the operating distance of the rod so please make sure you never press the clutch rod all the way into the unit!
I installed my unit by attaching the reservoir to the replacement master and slowly pressing the rod in and out only about half way. I then put my finger (with a rubber glove) over the hole that the steel clutch line threads into. I did this so the small internal valve has something to "press" against. I'm still only using small strokes to get the pressure valve inside the master to start working. After a while you will feel the pressure on your finger and that's when you stop. You are to install the unit into the car and adjust the rod so it allows the clevis pin to slide into the clutch arm with no effort. Do not allow the clutch arm to fall to the floor at this point! Have a helper hold the clutch pedal in his/her hand and slowly press the pedal in only halfway WHILE you put your finger over the hole to check for pressure. Have the person pressing the clutch pedal with their hand to slowly pull the pedal back up after each half stroke. When you have pressure at your finger tip, connect the steel line to the master cylinder. Now its time to bleed the entire unit. Go down to the slave cylinder and have the person give the pesal a half stroke and hold it steady. You are to crack the line open and quickly close it! continue doing this until you get that fluid moving (make sure you keep fluid in the reservoir!) After the fluid is moving have your helper press the pedal very slowly to the floor and hold it there. You are to crack the slave cylinder open and quickly close it. Have the helper slowly pull the pedal back up a few times and this should take care of the pedal falling to the floor! :thumb:
I hope this helps someone out.
P.S.
This link will explain how our clutch system works..

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/drivetrain-tech/366222-totally-understanding-our-clutch-system.html
 
Do you know how far the rod on the SC should move when you press the clutch? I'm currently trying to figure out if I have a hydraulic issue or fork, TOB, pressure plate, disc issue. I'm still searching, but no luck yet. No fluid leaks, reservoir is full, and I can push the rod back into the SC, so the check valve in the MC is open with clutch up.
 
Do you know how far the rod on the SC should move when you press the clutch? I'm currently trying to figure out if I have a hydraulic issue or fork, TOB, pressure plate, disc issue. I'm still searching, but no luck yet. No fluid leaks, reservoir is full, and I can push the rod back into the SC, so the check valve in the MC is open with clutch up.

Are you having the clutch that falls to the floor issue? I'm not sure exactly how far the rod on the SC=(slave cylinder) should move. If you have someone press the clutch you should see a good bit of movement at the slave cylinder. The problem I had was after bleeding everything over and over. I would have someone depress the clutch and I would have great movement at the slave cylinder. As I drove the car and the hydraulic fluid would heat up. The master cylinder would not hold the pressure effectively which caused the "feel' of the pedal to get worst. After a while, the pedal falls to the floor. :toobad:
 
My problem is that I left the house and went to stop at the intersection of my little street, push in the clutch and heard a click and felt it through the pedal. Now the clutch disengages closer to the floor and shudders a bit as I engage it, but only sometimes. I've only driven the car a few hundred yards since the click (just to turn around and park the car).

So I'm wondering if something broke (TOB clip maybe) or if something in the hydraulics is misbehaving. I have no obvious fluid at the master or slave cylinder, so it doesn't seem to be a leak...and the reservoir is not empty. I can push the slave rod back into the SC, so the release valve in the MC is opening with the pedal up, and the car shifts and the clutch "works" so it's nothing catastrophic, but I want to see if the SC rod is moving the proper amount. If it is, I'll pull the fork boot off and see if I can see anything. I had an ACT 2600 clutch installed maybe 25k miles ago (before I started wrenching on my DSM), and this probably means the fork and pivot are original. Don't know if the clip came with the kit, so maybe that's original, too (96k miles). I don't know if ACT used the OEM-style TOB back then or not (they use an OEM-like one now, I've heard, or maybe it depends on who you buy it from).

I've never had to do any drivetrain work before, so I'm a bit troubled about the prospect of dropping the tranny. I know I'll figure everything out, but I hate doing big jobs for the first time...just how I am.
 
My problem is that I left the house and went to stop at the intersection of my little street, push in the clutch and heard a click and felt it through the pedal. Now the clutch disengages closer to the floor and shudders a bit as I engage it, but only sometimes.
did you get yours figured out? What was the solution?

I went to shift yesterday and my pedal went halfway, popped and then went almost to the floor. Now when I put it into gear the clutch has to be to the floor and the car shudders when I barely lift the pedal. Pedal pressure is about half what it used to be. PO had a ACT 2600 put in within the last 10,000 miles.
 
Support Vendors who Support the DSM Community
Boosted Fabrication ECM Tuning ExtremePSI Fuel Injector Clinic Innovation Products Jacks Transmissions JNZ Tuning Kiggly Racing Morrison Fabrications MyMitsubishiStore.com RixRacing RockAuto RTM Racing STM Tuned

Latest posts

Build Thread Updates

Vendor Updates

Latest Classifieds

Back
Top